Apartment fire kills woman, 90

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department personnel wheeled the son-in-law of Patsy Walsh Williams, who died in a fire yesterday morning, to a waiting ambulance. He was taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
— Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune

San Diego Fire-Rescue Department personnel wheeled the son-in-law of Patsy Walsh Williams, who died in a fire yesterday morning, to a waiting ambulance. He was taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
— Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune

Firefighter Laurie Duncan (left) looked after two of the four Chihuahua-mix dogs that were unharmed by the house fire on La Jolla Hermosa Avenue yesterday morning. Animal control officers were called to assist with their care.— Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune

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Firefighter Laurie Duncan (left) looked after two of the four Chihuahua-mix dogs that were unharmed by the house fire on La Jolla Hermosa Avenue yesterday morning. Animal control officers were called to assist with their care.
— Howard Lipin / Union-Tribune

San Diego  Tom Miller had been doing some painting at a house on La Jolla Hermosa Avenue, and yesterday was his first day back after the holidays. He could see and smell smoke across the street as he drove up in the morning.

“It looked like fog,” Miller said.

Fire had broken out in a small apartment behind a home near Midway Street shortly after 7:30 a.m. It would claim the life of a 90-year-old woman.

Miller’s co-worker, Ty Strong, had pulled up about the same time, and both men rushed to help. When they got to the back of the home, the air was thick with black smoke and the woman’s son-in-law was standing outside, seemingly confused.

“He said she was still in there,” Miller said.

The men couldn’t get in the back door because of the smoke and tried to enter through front and side doors that were locked.

“There was no getting to her,” Miller said.

Strong grabbed a hose and started running it through a window. Miller said they could hear dogs barking.

Firefighters later found the body of Patsy Walsh Williams on the floor of the granny flat. Her son-in-law and Strong were taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

A police officer was also trying to help when the firefighters arrived, Miller said. She suffered a minor injury to her arm after a fall and was also taken to a hospital to be checked out.

Firefighters found heavy smoke and flames coming from the apartment, said San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokesman Maurice Luque.

He said Williams apparently had become disoriented and was overcome by smoke. The son-in-law, who is in his 80s, lives in the front house, Luque said.

The blaze was extinguished in 10 minutes. The cause was a short circuit in some wiring, Luque said.

Four small Chihuahua-mix dogs on the property were found uninjured. They huddled together on a chair in the front yard as firefighters mopped up. Luque said animal control officers were called to assist.

Luque said the granny flat did not have a smoke alarm. The main house did have one, but it was not working.

The fire was mainly in the back home, though it spread to the main house’s attic. The main house also sustained some smoke damage, Luque said.

Damage was estimated at $300,000 to the structure and $100,000 to its contents, Luque said. Investigators determined that the fire started inside a wall in the converted bathroom/kitchen area.